Category: Next Level

Navigator Editor’s Note:  Kimberly Hopson sat down with Alumna Amber Banks to talk about her experience in school and as a Civic Engagement intern.  After losing more than a few friends to gun violence this year, ‘shots fired!’ has become a part of Amber’s daily reality. In the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, Amber described a tree surrounded by stuffed animals, candles, and pictures near her home that memorializes a deceased youth.  She and her peers have continuously experienced the mourning of relatives and friends, yet have adjusted their reality to react to the loss of young people to gun violence as commonplace occurrences akin to the resounding blare of fireworks on July 4, the awakening buzz of alarm clocks in the morning, or the familiar shrill of school bells ringing in the halls.

Amber credits her experiences, as a YCCS civic engagement intern, for helping her find and use her inner voice to respond to injustices, and putting her on the right path. Amber began as an intern in the 2016-17 school year with Westside Holistic Leadership Academy (now YCCS-West) and continues to work with the civic engagement interns as an alumna.

“I am proud to be a YCCS graduate and a second-year Civic Engagement Intern,” Amber shared, “If it were not for this experience, I would not be aware of the deafening noises of violence which have been muted by antipathy, helplessness, and hopelessness.”

“The YCCS Internship has helped me come up with solutions to not only stop gun violence but to also get my peers to be more aware and join the movement to help stop it,” Amber proudly stated. “Exposure to civics was part of my awakening. Internship participants learned their rights as citizens, duties to their community and the impact of their voting power on politics and legislation.”

“Ultimately, we are the voice for our peers,” Amber continued, “this internship helped young people like me, ages 16-21, become aware of the political system. As we vote each year for our president, governor, mayor, and city council members, we determine who should be in office and who will represent our voice.  Being an intern also gave me more insight into what’s going on around me. I can proudly say, I’ve become more aware. Because of the program, I have become more independent and more outspoken about situations regarding politics, education, and violence. I learned that all of these issues are connected, whether we are aware of it or not.”

“I gained insight about my peers and my community, about the systemic issues that promote gun violence, and the political process. As a team, we interns reached out and made calls to our aldermen, joined press conferences and public meetings to voice our opinions, and we registered student voters, encouraging them to get out to the polls! It was eye-opening!”

Reflecting on her path moving forward Amber responded, “Our first step is to start making changes by confronting the issues in our own communities and schools, and then work our way up. Our voices must be heard! That is why being an intern was revealing. I wouldn’t have learned as much as I know now without it. I had amazing mentors and inspiring colleagues, which made this experience even greater. I’m so grateful and blessed to be a part of something that not only changed my life, but also the other interns and the lives of the people we touch.”

After graduating, Amber was not sure of her next steps. Now, she plans to attend Malcolm X College to study nursing, building on the pharmacy technology training she received while attending Westside Holistic Leadership Academy (now YCCS-West). “Interning has made me want to continue being involved in meeting the needs of Black and Brown people, to change systems of oppression throughout our nation, and to inform others about the importance of voting so their voices can be heard.”

When my journey began as the Campus Leader for the Civic Engagement Project at Progressive Leadership Academy (PLA), I knew this was the right place for me. This civics project would produce fruits to expand our students’ horizons, require them to think outside the box (their communities) and challenge them to explore global issues.

When we embarked on this voyage, we began by unpacking this year’s issues of study, which included Education, Immigration/Emigration, Policing/Incarceration, and Inter/Intra-communal Violence. My students and I were motivated and encouraged to exercise our voices.

When all participating campus leaders and their interns came together, representing Youth Connection Charter School, our collective voices clapped like thunder. We brainstormed together and studied the issues, which were vital to our students and their communities. Our students stood strong and firm with us, their Campus Leaders, and YCCS Civic Engagement Leaders. Our support inspired students to sound their trumpets!

PLA interns and students focused their project on Gun Violence and researched their issue from grassroots to root causes and worked together to promote and take actions. For instance, they created a survey to collect data from targeted groups, including formal/informal interviews with parents, peers, community members, teachers, and elected officials from Chicago and Springfield, Illinois. They interviewed state representatives, senators, and others in the political arena. They also conducted a voters’ registration drive, marches, rallies and peace circles, posted Tweets, and called elected officials to voice their concerns about Gun Violence.

At the YCCS Civic Engagement demonstrations of learning culminating event, the PLA team presentation was amazingly impressive! They shared their knowledge of research and resources, their actions, including social media posts. They made their demands clear to prevent gun violence and promote a healthier community through stricter gun Laws, creating more job opportunities within Black and Brown communities, providing before and after school funding, building affordable housing and community centers on vacant lots, and decreasing spending on policing to use more tax dollars toward education and youth employment.

–Patrice Allen

Progressive Leadership Academy

 

The first day I attended the internship I met Ms.Venson (Executive Director-YCCS). She told me the vision behind the civic engagement internship and it was compelling. I knew it wouldn’t be just an assignment but a vision that would shift the culture and energy in Black and Brown communities.

The YCCS civic engagement project is one of the biggest reasons I started doing research about poverty and gun violence. I participated in the project and showcase last year and it was an incredible experience. This year, I walked away with the First Place Prize for the Civic Engagement Team Project and other first place awards for my individual work. It was a very humbling experience.

The topic of the project was how poverty influences Intra-communal violence. The beginning was difficult. Many of the team members left the project. At some point, I lost focus. But I was the only person committed to finishing. Because I looked at it as more than an assignment. This is a harsh reality for many of us. And this reality is wrong! I wanted everyone to know that, whether I won or not.

To reduce intra-communal violence, we conducted marches, voter registration drives and spoke truth to power, demanding access to healthy food and nutrition, equitable and quality schools and education, investments in recreational centers, opportunities to engage in meaningful and sustainable work with living wages, and affordable housing and child care.

Being an intern at YCCS has helped me build and develop lifelong relationships with my peers and mentors that go beyond the internship. I have learned multiple techniques to combat poverty and violence from people all over the world. For instance, I attended intervention and prevention workshops in Los Angeles where I met people just as passionate as me about making our communities better place to live and grow.

I am deeply grateful for YCCS and everyone who made it possible for young leaders to come together in this internship and be more civically engaged and to take this knowledge everywhere we go. I look forward to coming back and helping to cultivate the next generation of leaders.

–Chyann McQueen

Class of 2018, CCA Academy